Two-color-printing press.



PATENTED .TUNE 23, 1908.

H. A. AGRICOLA, IR. TWO OOLOR PRINTING PRESS.

' .APPLICATION FILED NOV. l0, 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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TWO COLOR PRINTING PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 10, 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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PATEN'IED JUNE 23, 1908.

H. A. AGRICOLA, JR. TWO COLOR PRINTING PRESS.

APPLICATION FILEI) NOV.10, 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

i III I HERMAN A. AGRICOLA, JR., OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA. I

TWO-COLOR-PRIN-TING PRESS.

specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 23, 1908.

Application filed November 10, 1905. Serial No. 286,714.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, HERMAN A. AGRICOLA,

J r., a citizen of the United States, residing at j ment of this kindcomprising a number of coacting devices which can be grouped togetherand put upon any jobbing press using form rollers and taking ink fromone or more disks. At the same time, while Il have shown the inventionas applied to a press employing a flat lsurface inking disk, it will beobviousv that presses having fountain roller ink feeds can also have theattachment connected thereto by attaching the ink feeding mechanism tothem.

Another object of my invention is the printing of a form in two colorswith a single impression or during one revolution of a Gordon press.

The invention is designed, for example, to print a form in solid blacktype with a border of red or any other suitable color surrounding thetype portion.

rlhe invention is also designed for the purpose of printing in black orany other desired color the body portion of a form, at the same timeputting in one or more initial letters and a border of a contrastingcolor to that employed upon the body of the form.

The invention consists of a chase having a plurality of perforatedtracks on opposite sides thereto, cam-bars of various lengths adapted tobe fitted upon said tracks in engagement with the perforations, and aplurality of inking rollers movable over the chase, and over the formcarried by the chase, the said rollers being provided with wheelportions traveling upon said tracks, whereby the roller 4is lifted awayfrom the form when the wheels upon said roller come into engagement withthe cam-bars, the roller traveling a distance up and down the formwithout inking the same, in proportion to the length of the cam-bars,engaged by the roller wheels. The invention also consists in the novelfeatures of construction hereinafter set forth, pointed out in theclaims and shown in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1, is afront elevation of a press supplied with my attachment. Fig. 2, is avertical side elevation of the upper portion of a press having myinvention applied thereto. Fig. 3, is a top plan view of Fig. l. Fig. 4,is a detail perspective view illustrating the manner of journaling aninking disk in position. Fig. 5, is a detail perspective view of ajournal box, the casing of the same being partly broken away. Fig. 6, isa detail perspective view of a portionof a chase, showing a perforatedtrack, and two of the cam bars removed from the track.

In these drawings A, represents the bed of the press upon which isarranged a chase B, and within the chase is locked a form C, the formbeing held in place in the usual manner. The chase B, has formed in itsside walls a plurality of vertically extending rows of perforations B1.These rows have a length equal to that of the largest form which can beheld in the chase, and have preferably four in number on each side ofthe chase, making a total of eight rows. It will be noticed that on eachside of the chase, tbe adjacent rows of perforations are slightlystaggered with respect to each other, alternate rows having theperforations in horizontal alinement. The perforations B1,'which formthe rows are preferably a pica distance apart, and by staggering therows a distance of less than the pica size, type can be obtained inadjacent cam bars B2. These cam bars are made in various lengths fromone pica size to a length equal to the length of the rows ofperforations, and are provided with a plurality of pins or projectionsB3, varying in number according to the length of the cam bars, which pinfits snugly the perforations B1. A plurality of rollers, D, D1, E, andE1, extend transversely and horizontally across the chase and travelperpendicularly up and down the face of the form. These rollers are ofsmall diameter and are provided with the usual printing composition toreceive and deliver ink, the rollers consisting substantially of a smallshaft forming a ground upon which the composition roller is mounted, andany desired means may be adapted to prevent the composition roller fromslipping or turning upon its shaft. Upon each of the printing rollersthus formed, are arranged slidable loo wheels F, which travel upon thetrackways marked out by the rows of perforations or formed by the cambars. i

It will be obvious from the drawings, that the wheels F, of each rollertravel upon the track of their own, the wheels being adjusted upon eachroller out of vertical alinement with those of the other rollers. Itwill be plain that the wheels F, of one roller will be traveling uponthe outer rows of perforations or upon what may be termed the outertracks while the 'wheels of another roller will be traveling upon theinnermost tracks and the wheels of the other two rollers upon the twointermediate tracks, the tracks and wheels being duplicated uponopposite sides of the chase.

An explanation of the parts already described 'will Aserve to more fullymake clear the object of the parts to be hereafter described. In Fig. l,I have shown a form in which it is assumed that the border 1, in red inkis to be printed and within which is a border 2, in black ink, withprinted matter 3, within the last mentioned border. The rollers D, andD1, are assumed to be inked with black ink and the rollers E,.and El,with red ink. As the rollers are carried outwardly over the face of theform, the roller El, being the lowermost roller, will pass first overthe face of the form. This roller has secured upon it short collars orsleeves E2, formed of the inking composition, .which sleeves are spacedapart and are of a length equal to the width of the red border on eachside of the forni. Thewheels F, of the roller El, are adjusted to travelupon the innermost track, and it will be noted that this track is freefrom cams in that portion of the track immediately opposite the verticalsides of the form C. As the roller El, therefore passes over the form,the inking portion E2, of the said roller, will put in the verticalsides of the red border l. The roller E, also receives red ink and itswheels F, travel upon the tracks adjacent those traveled upon by thewheels of the roller El. As this roller comes down on the face of theform, it first inks in the upper horizontal side of the red border 1,and the wheels F, then immediately engage cams B2, which lift the rollersufficiently for it to clear the border 2, and the body portion 3. Asthe wheels of the roller D1 strike the sides of the chase B, they ridefirst upon cams B2, which lift the said roller over the upper portion ofthe red border l, but which stops short of the upper edge of the blackborder 2. rIhis roller then prints in black until the border 2, and thebody portion 3, has been entirely passed over and is then again liftedby `cams B2, to clear the lower side of the red border l. The roller D,having no work to perform in the example thus described, travels theentire length of the form upon cams B2 and no inkinO is done b thisroller on the form such as is shown for illustrative purposes in Fig. l.The example in Fig. 1, therefore shows two rollers D1, and E1, inkingsimultaneously one form in two coi'itrasting colors, one roller, D,carried across the form without inking in part of it and the roller IC,inking in a red border only at the top and bottom of the form.

In order that there may be a positive rotatory motion to the inkingrollers above doscribed, and which will be termed auxiliary rollers todistinguish them from. inking rollers to be hereafter described, Isecure upon the vertical sides ofthe chase B, suitable rack bars B, andthe rollers D, D, E, and lC, carry gears G, which engage these rackbars, and any slipping or sliding of the rollers upon the form isprevented, and this not only in sures a uniformity in the distributionof ink upon the form but also prevents any possible danger of the colorsoverlapping or being wrongly distributed. The rollers are held insuitable ournal boxes J, two of these boxes being employed upon eachside of the chase and for convenience of description the boxes will bereferred to as upper and lower boxes. The upper boxes J, have j ournaledin them rollers E, and El, and are termed the upper boxes for the reasonthat they travel to an upper inking disk. from which the rollers lC andE1 receive ink of the proper color, while the lower journal boxes inwhich are journaled rollers D and D1, travel to a lower inking diskwhich furnishes ink of a different color to the rollers D and D1. Theseinking disks will be described hereafter and it will be noted that whenthe inking rollers are passing over the form C, the upper journal boxesare really in a lower horizontal plane than the lower journal boxes, theupper boxes precod ing the lower boxes in traveling down the faceiof theform. Upon opposite sides of the frame A, are arranged parallel tracksA1, and A2, these tracks being arranged in pairs and one pair beingprovided upon each side of the chase B. From Fig. 2, it will be notedthat the tracks A1, lie within the tracks A2, and adjacent the bed ofthe press. The tracks A1, carry the rack bars B4, above referred to.Above the press bed, the tracks A1, curve upwardly and extendrearwardly. The tracks A2, are spaced some distance from the sides ofthe tracks A1, and extend upwardly above the tracks A1, and then. curverearwardly,

and it will be noted that the straight pori.

tion of the tracks A2, are parallel to the straight portion of thetracks A1. The journal boxes J, are supported from the rock shaft J1,carried by the frame A, and upon each side of the frame, this shaftcarries rocker arms J2. Any desired means may be employed for rockingthe shaft J1, Iioosely mounted upon the rocker arms J2, are parallelrods J3, which work through suitable sleeves and collars carried by therocker arms.

lill) Coil springs J 9, which encircle the rods J 2, and which aresecured at their lower ends to collars J1", draw downwardly or upwardlyupon the said rods.- At their outer ends, the rods J3, are eachpivotally connected to one of the journal boxes J. As shown in the dejtail view in Fig. 5, each journal box is formed in compartments, theouter casing being broken away in Fig. 5, to show one of saidcompartments at J1. In each of these compartments is arranged a bearingblock J 5, which is slightly smaller than the compartment J1, and aspring J6, is arranged upon each block, and bears upon the inner faceofthe journal box J. These blocks J5, have bearings J7, and J8, formed inthem in vertical alinement and by means of the spring J G, formadjustable bearings for the rollers journaled in the blocks J5. In thebearings J 2, of the blocks are j ournaled the end portions of theauxiliary rollers D, and D1, E and E1. In the bearings J7, are journaledthe end portions of inking rollers H, and H1, arranged in pairs, therollers H, being carried by the lower journal box J, and rotating infrictional contact with the rollers D, and D1, and the rollers H1, arecarried by the upper journal box and rotate' in frictional contact withthe rollers E, and E1, and it will be obvious that the auxiliary rollersreceive their supply directly from the inking rollers H, and H1, whichrollers are of a much larger diameter than the auxiliary rollers.

The upper journal boxes J, are provided upon their outer faces withrollersK, which travel upon the tracks A2, and it will be obvious fromthe drawings that the rocker arms J2, move between the tracks A1, andA2, the journal boxes J, traveling also between the said tracks. Theauxiliary rollers also carry small wheels K1, which travel upon thetracks A1. It will now be obvious when the rollers are in the positionshown in Fig. 1, and are moving upwardly that as the lower journal boxreaches the upper curved portion of the tracks A1, the rollers K1, uponthe auxiliary rollers D, and D1, will hug the curvature of the track A1,by reason of the tension of the springs J 2, upon the rods J2, pivotallyconnected to the lower journal boxes J, and this journal box willtherefore travel rear wardly upon the tracks A1. The upper journal boxJ, will, however, be held upon the tracks A2, by the rollers K, and thewheels K1, carried by the auxiliary inking rollers E, and E1, will leavethe track A, and the upper journal boxes J, will travel rearwardly uponthe tracks A2, the position of the two journal boxes as the rocker armsJ2, approach a perpendicular position being shown in Fig. 2. To supportthe inking disks which convey ink to the rollers H, and H1, theupperrear portion of the arm A, carries a angled arm L, which is bifurcatedat its free end as shown at L1, in Fig. 4, and this bifurcation isprovided with guideways L2, which intersect the perforations providedwith an annular shoulder L3, which shoulder is counter sunk with respectto the slideways L2. An upper inking disk M,is provided with a shaft M1,which carries a collar M2. rlChis shaft M1, slides in the bifurcatedportion of the arm L, the collar M2, traveling in the slideways L2, anddropping into the perforations and resting upon the countersunk shoulderL2. secured in place by means of a fiat locking plate L1, perforated toiit over the shaft M2, and which rests in the slideway, the said platebeing held in position by a suitable screw. remove the inking disk M,for purpose of cleaning, it is'only necessary to remove the lockingplate L1, and lift the disk upwardly so as to raise the collar M2, outof its seat upon the shoulder L3, and then draw the disk forwardly untilthe shaft M1, has cleared the bifurcation L1. Upon the upper end portionof the shaft M1, is loosely mounted a pulley M3, 'and upon the pulley ispivoted a springpressed pawl M1, which engages the ratchet M5, fixedupon the upper end of the shaft M1, when the pulley is rotated in onedirection, the pulley slipping upon the ratchet when the pulley isrotated in the opposite direction. The inking disk M, is also formedwith gear teeth M11, upon its periphery.

A belt O, is connected at one end of the rock shaft J1, and passesupwardly over the pulley O1, carried at the angle of the arm L, and thebelt then passes around the pulley M2, and back over the pulley O2,carried by the arm L, on the side opposite the pulley O1. T he free endof the belt has a weight O2, attached thereto. A lower inking disk P, issuitably journaled upon an arm P1, which extends over the arm L,upwardly to the disk M. As the disk P, and its bearings aresubstantially duplicates of the upper inking disk M, no detaileddescription of them is thought necessary. In order to rotate the lowerprinting disk P, a sleeve Q, is formed upon the rear end portion of thearm P1, and at right angles thereto and in the face of the sleeve isjournaled a shaft Q1, which carries at is ends pinions Q2, and Q3, thepinions Q2, meshing with the teeth M6, of the inking disk M, and thepinion Q3, meshing with similar teeth P2, formed on the disk P.

As the operation of the main part of Athe device has already beenreferred to in detail, a brief summary of the operation as a whole willgive a clear understanding of the operation of the device. Assuming thatthe colors to be printed are black and red, the disk M, will be a redinking disk and the lower disk P, will carry the black ink. As therocker arms J1, swing into a perpendicular position, the'rollers H,carried by the lower journal boxes J, will roll across the end face ofthe disk P. At the same time the rollers I-I1, will The disk is then Itwill be obvious that in order to travel over the end face of the inkingdisk M. During this operation the weight O3, will be ascending as thepulley M4, will be slipping upon the ratchet M5, th ere will be norotation of the inking disks. But as the rock shaft Jl, has itsdirections of rotation reversed, and the rocker arms J2, swing forwardbringing the rollers H, and. H1, again across the face or' theirrespective inking disks, the weight O3, will descend thus reversing thedirection of the loose pulley M3, and the pawl M4, will engage the teethof the fixed ratchet M5, and the disk M, will be rotated. This rotationof the upper disk M, will be transmitted to the lower disk P, throughthe shaft Q1, and the pinions Q2, and Q3. The rollers H, and H1,

' will therefore be thoroughly inked', the rollers H, receiving a supplyof black ink and the rollers H1, a supply of red ink, and this ink willbe distributed. by these rollers to the auxiliary rollers with whichthey are in contact. By employing the rollers H, and H1, to receive theinks direct from the inking disks instead of passing the auxiliaryrollers themselves directly over the faces of the said inking disks, lam enabled to employ printing rollers, that is, rollers which. come intoactual contact with the form C, of a much smaller diameter than would beotherwise possible. By having the rollers H, and H1, of a comparativelarger diameter an abundant supply of ink is received from the inkingrollers and spread over a considerable surface, and by employing rollersof comparatively smaller diameter for actual Work upon the form l amable to more nicely adjust the delivery of ink of different colors tothe said form.

Having thus fully described my invention,

l'iictional contact with one of the lirst inen- ,l

tioned rollers and adapted to receive ink from same and to deliver it toa form, and Amoans for bringing a portion of the llirst mentionedrollers into contact with one of said inking disks, and the remainder ofthe Vlirst mcntioned rollers into contact with the other disk.

2. A device of the kind described comprising a chase, a plurality oftrack-ways formed on said chase, cam bars adapted to be secured on saidtrack-ways, a plurality oi jour nal boxes upon each side of the chase,the plurality of inking rollers journaled in said boxes and adapted totravel upon said track ways and cam bars, a plurality ol rollers olilarger diameter than those lirst mentioned also journaled in the saidboxes and in lrictional contact with the rollers 'lirst mentioned, aplurality of inking disks equal in number to the number of journal boxesupon one side of the chase, and means for bringing thc last mentionedrollers, into contact with said inking disks, the rollers of each pairof ournal boxes engaging one disk.

HERMAN A. AGRlCOLA, Jn.

Witnesses:

J'. E. BonENi-IAMER, d'. W. KINARD.

